The Telecommunications Industry Association has published a new standard, optical fiber test procedure designed to measure polarization dependence of insertion loss of singlemode optical fiber components by a Mueller matrix method.

The standard is titled fiber optic test procedure (FOTP)-198, Measurement of Polarization Dependence of Insertion Loss of Singlemode Fiberoptic Components by a Mueller Matrix Method, TIA-455-198.

The intent of this test is to determine the sensitivity of singlemode optical fiber components to changes in polarization using a method based on the Mueller matrix formalism. The result of the test is the total variation in insertion loss over all polarization states of light launched in to the specimen.

This procedure can be applied to any singlemode passive component, including connectors, splices, couplers, attenuators, isolators, switches, multiplexers and demultiplexers, optical amplifiers (non-operating), circulators and filters. It is used to measure the total range of insertion loss as page description language due to changes in polarization of the launch state.

The procedure cannot be used to measure polarization-maintaining components or to measure the polarization dependence of return loss, nor is this method applicable to measuring the polarization dependence of higher order attributes such as center wavelength and bandwidth of filters.

To obtain copies of the document, contact Global Engineering Documents at (800) 854-7179.

The TIA is based in Arlington, VA. For more information visit www.tiaonline.org.